From albatross to hip: 1 World Trade Center's evolution

Soaring tower now has more tech and creative firms than any other, landlord says

The boom in tech and creative tenants has spread across the city, but certain buildings and neighborhoods are more known for it than others. The building 111 Eighth Ave., for instance, is famous for being Google's Manhattan headquarters, while Hudson Yards attracted media giant Time Warner and tech firm SAP.

The Durst Organization wants everyone to know that One World Trade Center has quietly emerged as the king of TAMI—the real estate industry's acronym for tech, advertising, media and information companies, which have fueled leasing activity in recent years.

The 104-story, 3-million-square-foot spire now houses 26 TAMI tenants, 20 of which are in tech, more than any other property in the city, according to Durst, which co-owns the $3.8 billion asset with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"It's a combination of things, but first of all, as tech began to catch on in the building, it built on itself because tech companies like to be located next to one another," said David Falk, the New York area president of Newmark Knight Frank, who is helping to lead the building's leasing effort. "They like being around like-minded people."

Falk also said the building's asking rents range from the low $60s to the high $70s per square foot. Many of the remaining floors in the property are priced lower than some of the properties the building is competing with in Midtown South that have attracted tech firms, he claimed, adding that the space is new and "checks all the boxes."

Not long ago, few real estate experts would have guessed that the backbone of leasing at One World Trade Center would be with tech and creative firms.

"This was a building that many people thought would attract Fortune 500 companies and blue chip corporations," said Eric Engelhardt, a leasing executive at the Durst Organization who is working with Falk's team to fill the remaining 500,000-plus square feet at the tower.

The first private tenant to commit to a large block of space in the property was Conde Nast, which took over a million square feet and helped rebrand Lower Manhattan as a destination for TAMI tenants. More recently, tech firms such as BounceX have come to the building along with the sports media company DAZN.

Durst is making tweaks to the property to build on its newfound popularity. It's about to undertake a renovation of a sky lobby on the building's 64th floor to make it a more inviting hangout for occupants. It has tapped the architecture firm Gensler to design the space, which is connected to Commons, a conference area and eatery operated by the workspace provider Convene. A popular recent addition to the space has been Fooda, a kiosk that brings in two new food purveyors every day.

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